From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe Colorist(s) Malibu
Shannon Blanchard
Tom Smith
Editor(s) Marcus McLaurin
Collected editions
Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus ISBN 0-7851-3383-6
Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe is a 1995 one-shot comic
book written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Doug
Braithwaite with most inking done by Michael L. Hal-
blieb, which depicts a story where Frank Castle kills
every superhero and supervillain in the Marvel Universe
including himself.
Publication history
Marvel would ultimately reprint the special (with a new
cover by Steve Dillon) and include it as a bonus feature in
a number of reprintings.
Plot
Cover to Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe reprint. Art by Steve Dillon.
Frank Castle became an officer in the NYPD SWAT team
after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps. Rather than falling
Publication information victim to a gangland slaying, Castle’s wife and children
Publisher Marvel Comics are instead killed when caught in the middle of a battle
between the Avengers, the X-Men, and a group of Brood
Format One-shot
and other aliens in Central Park. Castle arrives just in
Genre Superhero time to find his family dead, and Daredevil berating Cy-
clops and Captain America for their carelessness.
Publication date November 1995
As Castle grieves, none of the heroes are willing to
Number of issues 1 admit their fault in the deaths, until finally Cyclops at-
tempts to apologize. Enraged, Castle begins opening fire
Main character(s) Punisher
Daredevil on the assembled heroes, killing Cyclops, Hawkeye, and
Marvel Universe Jubilee. He is then attacked and wounded by Wolverine,
and only survives due to the intervention of Colossus.
Creative team
After recovering from his injuries (but still bearing
Writer(s) Garth Ennis the wounds inflicted by Wolverine), Castle is put on trial
for triple-homicide. His attorney is Matt Murdock, who
Penciller(s) Doug Braithwaite
recognizes Castle as the man who rescued him from bul-
Inker(s) Martin Griffiths lies when they were both boys (the two characters did
Mike Halbleib not know each other as children in the normal Marvel
Sean Hardy
Don Hudson universe). Despite Murdock’s defense, Castle is sentenced
John Livesay to life imprisonment.
Robin Riggs When the prison van taking him to jail stops, Castle
finds himself at the mountain mansion of a rich but
Letterer(s) Bill Oakley
hideously disfigured old man named Kesselring. Kessel-
ring introduces Castle to his associates, other disfigured
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
and brain-damaged individuals, who reveal that they too that their need for vengeance has made them bitter and
were maimed in the crossfire of superhero/supervillain pathetic, leaving with the threat of killing them all if any
battles. They will provide Castle with all the resources he of them try to contact him. However, he then leaves to
will need if he will destroy every superhuman on earth. complete his assignment by killing Daredevil.
Thirsting for revenge, Castle agrees and becomes the Pu- After a battle, Castle is wounded after falling off a
nisher. roof. Daredevil tells Castle that he does not need to live
With the help of Microchip, a former member of the through his pain, and begs for him to let it go. Not listen-
US Air Force whose legs were pulled off by Doctor Oc- ing, Castle stabs Daredevil through the chest, killing him.
topus, the Punisher sets about his mission. He begins Before he dies, Daredevil removes his mask and Castle is
by trapping Spider-Man and Venom in the sewers and shocked to see the face of Matt Murdock. The Punisher
killing them off while they are fighting one another. Hulk makes one final kill: himself.
is killed while alter-ego Bruce Banner is recovering from
his latest rampage.
Castle is captured on occasion (such as after killing
Impact
the Kingpin), jailed for mass murder and broken out by Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe was originally released
Kesselring. During these periods he is visited by Mur- with zero fanfare in 1995 and quickly fell into obscurity
dock, but is deaf to the blind attorney’s plea to stop the until years later when Garth Ennis (who had since gone
slaughter. onto fame and success through his DC Comics series
He later kills Doctor Doom, lures the various mutant Preacher) was hired by Marvel to revive the Punisher
super-teams, including the X-Men, the Brotherhood of franchise. As such, secondary market demand for the
Mutants and X-Factor, to the moon and wipes them out special caused it to rise to $50–$60 in value.[citation needed]
with one of Doom’s nuclear missiles. The Fantastic Four
and the Avengers are also disposed of. Veteran members
of some super-groups are killed in one-on-one confronta-
Collected editions
tions, like Wolverine and Captain America. It is later re- The special has been collected into larger volumes, in-
vealed that he has exterminated nearly all of the Marvel cluding Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus (ISBN
Universe such as Iron Man, Ghost Rider, Susan Storm, 0-7851-3383-6) and, along with Ennis’ first Punisher series,
Johnny Storm, Black Panther, and Nick Fury among oth- in Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank (hardcover, ISBN
ers. 0-7851-3384-4, softcover, ISBN 0-7851-0783-5; Panini,
By now weary of all the killings, Castle reports to his softcover, ISBN 1904159214).
benefactors and tells them that he never expects to hear
from them again once his assignment is complete. Kes- External links
selring tells him that the Punisher’s crusade will never be
complete, as a new generation of heroes will inevitably • Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe at the Grand Comics
rise, and must be halted. When Kesselring pulls a gun, the Database
Punisher kills him. He then tells Kesselring’s associates • Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe at the Comic Book DB
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Punisher_Kills_the_Marvel_Universe&oldid=464299046"
Categories:
• Punisher titles
• One-shot comic titles
• 1995 comic debuts
• Superhero comics
• Comics by Garth Ennis
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